Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Audit – Outdated Agency Regs Undermine Freedom of Information

National Security Archive: “A government-wide Freedom of Information Act audit by the National Security Archive has found that sixty-two out of ninety-nine government agencies have not updated their FOIA regulations since US Attorney General Eric Holder issued his March 19, 2009 FOIA memorandum to all heads of executive departments instructing them to make discretionary FOIA releases of documents that might be technically exempt from release (especially with respect to the “deliberative” b(5) exemption), to proactively post records of interest to the public, and to remove “unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.” Original FTC regulations from 1975, still on the books. Fifty-six agencies have not updated their Freedom of Information Act regulations since the passage of the OPEN Government Act of 2007, which mandated that agencies reform their fee structures, institute request tracking numbers, publish specific data on their FOIA output, and cooperate with the new FOIA mediators at the Office of Government Information Services.”

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.